Rodeo Clowns

Jack Johnson

Lyrics

Intro

C#m7 ... F#7 ... A7 ... G#7 ...

Verse

C#m7 Sweepin' the floors, open up the doors, yeah
F#7 Turn on the lights, getting' ready for the night
A7 Nobodies romancing cause its too early for dancing
G#7 But here comes the music...
Bright lights flashing they cover up you like-a
So many people, so many problems, so many reasons to buy
Another round, drink it down, just another night on the town
With the big man, money man, better than the other man
He got the plan with the million-dollar give-a-damn
When nobody understand he'll become a smaller man
The bright lights keep flashing and the women keep on dancing

Chorus

C#m7G#7 With the clowns, yeah yeah yeah
A7F#7 Pick me up when I'm down, yeah yeah
C#m7G#7 ...Rodeo clowns, yeah yeah yeah
A7F#7 Pick me up when I'm down, yeah yeah
The disco ball's spinning, all the music and the women
And the shots of tequila, man they say that they need ya
But what they really need
Is just a little room to breathe
A teeny boppin' disco queen, she barely understands
Her dreams of belly-button rings and other kinds of things
Symbolic of change, but the thing that is strange
Is that the changes occurred, and now she's just a part
Of the herd, yeah yeah yeah
Man I thought that you heard, yeah yeah
The changes occurred, yeah yeah yeah
She's just a part of the herd, yeah yeah
Lights out, shut down, late night, wet ground
You walk by look at him but he can't look at you, yeah
You might feel pity but he only feels the ground because-uh
You understand booze but he only knows let down
(Down) by the corner there's another one
Reachin' out a hand comin' from a broken man, well
You try to live but he's done tryin'
Not dead but definitely...
...Dyin'
With the rest of the clowns, yeah yeah
Mmm mmm mmm, hmm hmm
With the rest of the clowns, yeah yeah

Notes & Tabs

Chords Used

Here are the chords used to play this song. Note that the same four chords are used in both the verse and chorus progressions, though the order is slightly different. Listen to the recordings to get ideas for speed and dynamics (G Love's original album version is faster; Jack's album version is much more subtle).

Song Info

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About

My name is David Potsiadlo, and I created Songnotes to share my collection of guitar tabs, chords, and lyrics for my favorite songs.

Since I started playing guitar over 10 years ago, I've often been frustrated by the preponderance of mediocre and incomplete song tabs littered across the internet. To combat this, I started keeping my own collection of notes for each song I learn -- always taking the extra time to make sure accuracy and completeness are never compromised. Years later, my collection grew to the point where I knew I had to share it online with fellow aspiring musicians.

In December 2012, I began designing & developing a website that became Songnotes. Here, I share my personal collection of hand-crafted music notation with all those online. I hope you enjoy.